[Dardecor]

I'm finally at a point where I make decent money in my life. I'm looking at buying a Camaro 2SS 1LE. I was originally going to place an order for this car brand new for ~$55k MSRP but... I just so happen to look at used ZL1 prices and they're like ~59k. I won't actually be buying this until around summertime. Gonna be honest. $55k is pushing the limit a bit but I'm worried I may regret it if I don't jump on the ZL1 for just a little bit more. Also, in my apartment I have covered parking(no garage). I'm worried a ZL1 may get too much attention (the bad kind) if I left it there, but I may just be paranoid. People always think my 22' RS is an SS until I tell them it's a v6 all the time, so I'm not worried about negative attention with the SS. A ZL1 definitely stands out from other Camaros.

I plan on using this for Daily Driving, autocross, and mayybe the drag strip just for fun. I'm not too concerned about gas simply because I work from home a lot. Do you all think a used ZL1 is worth it over the 2ss 1le? I will probably have my finances assorted to buy this around summertime.

[db2022cs]

Well, I guess it depends on if you will be ok with 450 horse power. Most people are. I'm not even sure if you could utilize the full potential of the ZL1 on an autocross course. If you manage to track it a few times a year at least then it would be great. Another thing you can look at is with the 2ss, you could eventually build it up to a ZL1 over time and enjoy making it your own. I was in the same boat as you, ZL1 would be amazing but a 2ss 1le is what I ended up with. I think within 5 years I will have it approaching the power of the ZL1 over time.

Another part of me is like really weary about buying a used performance vehicle. 95% of the time there is no issue and it will be fine, the cars are pretty stout, but that 5% makes me feel, did they beat the car up during break in or not change oil enough? A 2SS 1LE will still pull a bit of attention, not as much as the ZL1 but it will. It might be hard to snag a 2SS 1LE as the allocations are pretty weird right now. I would try to get an order in if you can sooner rather than later. 2024 might be the last year.

[Dardecor]

Originally Posted by db2022cs

Well, I guess it depends on if you will be ok with 450 horse power. Most people are. I'm not even sure if you could utilize the full potential of the ZL1 on an autocross course. If you manage to track it a few times a year at least then it would be great. Another thing you can look at is with the 2ss, you could eventually build it up to a ZL1 over time and enjoy making it your own. I was in the same boat as you, ZL1 would be amazing but a 2ss 1le is what I ended up with. I think within 5 years I will have it approaching the power of the ZL1 over time.

Another part of me is like really weary about buying a used performance vehicle. 95% of the time there is no issue and it will be fine, the cars are pretty stout, but that 5% makes me feel, did they beat the car up during break in or not change oil enough? A 2SS 1LE will still pull a bit of attention, not as much as the ZL1 but it will. It might be hard to snag a 2SS 1LE as the allocations are pretty weird right now. I would try to get an order in if you can sooner rather than later. 2024 might be the last year.

I will admit there is a tiny bit of anxiety with wondering if the previous owner followed the break-in period when buying used lol. I think I will place the order now so that I can have the option of cancelling it (-before they start actually building it-) if I decide to change my mind on this.

[RCwhat]

My vote is to keep the v6 and use the increased finances to buy a house. You’re literally throwing money away by living in an apartment.

[ST1LE]

We dont know much about your situation, so it's hard to say.

You could be just seeing expendable income and have no real assets or savings at all, or you could be renting an apartment while owning a rent house and having a year's worth expenses saved in the bank for all we know.

If your current state is closer to the later example, and you can afford a 48 month loan on a supercharger gas guzzler out of warranty and can afford the consumables like tires while still putting money in to your savings account, then I say buy the ZL1 and enjoy!

If you're closer to the first example, I fear you will grow to regret the sacrifices you made to own a nice car, I learned being broke with nice things sucks.

It's seems likely a 2024 Camaro will happen, and a huge dip is coming. I would wait and see what happens, and keep in mind a 1SS 1LE is a whole lot of car. I bet we will see lightly used 1LE's for $40k or even the high $30's again some day.

[ALMN]

Originally Posted by Dardecor

I'm finally at a point where I make decent money in my life. I'm looking at buying a Camaro 2SS 1LE. I was originally going to place an order for this car brand new for ~$55k MSRP but... I just so happen to look at used ZL1 prices and they're like ~59k. I won't actually be buying this until around summertime. Gonna be honest. $55k is pushing the limit a bit but I'm worried I may regret it if I don't jump on the ZL1 for just a little bit more. Also, in my apartment I have covered parking(no garage). I'm worried a ZL1 may get too much attention (the bad kind) if I left it there, but I may just be paranoid. People always think my 22' RS is an SS until I tell them it's a v6 all the time, so I'm not worried about negative attention with the SS. A ZL1 definitely stands out from other Camaros.

I plan on using this for Daily Driving, autocross, and mayybe the drag strip just for fun. I'm not too concerned about gas simply because I work from home a lot. Do you all think a used ZL1 is worth it over the 2ss 1le? I will probably have my finances assorted to buy this around summertime.

Remember the gas guzzler tax and insurance premium with the zl1 as well. 1le’s as overall will take more attention due to the wheels and blacked out hood. So you are in for a treat! A used zl1 is not worth it with the current market. If it was 2019 you could have snatched one for mid to high 40s. I was looking for one back in the day. It’s pretty crazy how much this pandemic had impact on everything.

[Realist]

Originally Posted by RCwhat

My vote is to keep the v6 and use the increased finances to buy a house. You’re literally throwing money away by living in an apartment.

Everyone’s situation is different but with the limited info provided, I would probably agree with this.

That said a move from v6 to SS 1LE is huge and recommended if it’s gotta be a new 1LE or used ZL1.

In my opinion because of the sticky tires, every 1LE and ZL1 should have some PPF so that is an additional cost to include from a few thousand to many depending on coverage.
If you can’t put a sizable deposit down so there is equity in the car, it’s definitely not worth the move. Especially if already upside down on the Camaro V6.

[LT4Greg]

I was in this kind of a situation back in 2019 looking at getting a new 2019 SS 1LE because of the issues that were popping up in my 2016 2SS after major accident repairs to the 2016 when checking on Cars.com I found a very low mileage used 2017 ZL1 for sale. Of course the ZL1 still had some of the 36,000 mile warranty left and all the power train warranty too and was priced very good so after much debate and thought I bought the ZL1 figuring it was the better deal in the long run. I used my 2016 2SS as a trade in and didn’t have to deal with the issues it was having and spending money on the repairs. Do I regret my decision to get the ZL1? Absolutely not. The extra hp and supercharger whine plus the handling and drive ability were worth the extra money I spent over getting the SS 1LE. Good luck and you do what’s best for you and my advice is don’t wait too long to order a SS 1LE if you decide to go that route.

[jamala00]

I've been going back an forth on upgrading to a ZL1. Honestly for the back road spirited driving I do it just isn't worth it. I may get mid 20's for mine and need to pay upper 50's to low 60's for an '18 ZL1. You get the extra HP but I'll never take it to a track and I'd never used that power on the street... So... Why? If you don't plan to use the full potential of the ZL1... I'd stick with the SS... I also do not like the alcantara fabric in the ZL1. Especially on the steering wheel and shift knob. Why GM things that material is higher quality then full leather I'll never know. Even on an Acura MDX Type S it's alcantara fabric. You step up to the Type S Advanced (Highest Trim) and it's full leather.

[AZIROC]

I made a post on here a few years back kind of in the same situation. I test drove a few different cars and 1 was an SS. Imo they are awesome cars and sometimes now I wonder if I should have went ss 1le since I track the car. 455 hp is alot for the track and very easy to get above 500hp with basic mods.



My mistake is I test drove a zl1 and i fell in love with that extra 200 hp. Thankfully when I was looking, a used 2018 zl1 with 3k miles was 50k, or around 55k old after tax/fees.

[rst08tierney]

ZL1's an amazingly fast vehicle. For me it was just too much power for around town. Every time I looked at that speedo she was pushing over 90 with a tap on the gas. Im not a track guy at all but love the back canyon roads in Malibu.

Went the 2SS route myself but I do plan on keeping her naturally asperated with some extra bolt on's once I get out of the restrictions of California. Its more than enough for my needs and still very capable of giving you an oh $#@%@$# driving experience.

Another important one at least for me is i'll never buy someone's used sports car that can produce over 600HP with out knowing who the previous owner was.

[N Camarolina]

OP, you've gotten good advice from these members so far. I track my 1LE and will share my street and track mile opinions here for you to consider:

1) On the road, the SS 1LE is way more car than you will need to have fun. You can be on twisty backroads doing 2X+ the posted speed limit and still not getting near the traction limits; it feels totally planted. And because of this, fun can be somewhat limited ironically. Acceleration is easily enough - more than a just few seconds with your foot to the floor and you are already north of highway speed limits.

2) On the road course track, the 1LE is amazing. It's handling limits can be fairly safely explored while leaving a huge smile on your face. I haven't done autocross, but I'd hazzard a guess that you'll appreciate the SS 1LE much more if you take it on a road course, as autocross courses can be so constrictive (mostly low speed corners) that your mostly just throwing the car around- you can do that with a lot of cars and not. appreciate their differences. And the SS will have plenty of low end torque to pull you out of a corner.

3) A ZL1 by comparison will have slightly poorer handing (the extra weight) than the SS 1LE. On the road, unless you are obsessed with highway pulls, it will be difficult to use all the extra power. Savageese does great performance car reviews on youtube and has comments on the ZLE street driving to this effect. I'd expect these same observations to hold to on an autocross. Now, on a road course track, you "might" be able to exploit the extra horsepower of the ZL1, but it will depend on the particular track you drive. Long straight aways = yes; lots of turns with few straights = no.

I considered all this before I made my buying decision, and decided to go with the SS 1LE. In fact, my home track, VIR, has two long straights and I still manage to hit 140+ mph and don't miss the extra 200 horses. In fact, if you get into road course driving, you come to realize that the fun part, the part that takes skill and where you feel the reward, is how well you handle the brake zones and control inputs in the corners; it's not about mashing your foot to the floor on the straightaways (that part gets old pretty quick, no matter how fast you go, because you get used to the speed).

Good luck with your purchase.

[Casper the friendly G]

Originally Posted by N Camarolina

OP, you've gotten good advice from these members so far. I track my 1LE and will share my street and track mile opinions here for you to consider:

1) On the road, the SS 1LE is way more car than you will need to have fun. You can be on twisty backroads doing 2X+ the posted speed limit and still not getting near the traction limits; it feels totally planted. And because of this, fun can be somewhat limited ironically. Acceleration is easily enough - more than a just few seconds with your foot to the floor and you are already north of highway speed limits.

2) On the road course track, the 1LE is amazing. It's handling limits can be fairly safely explored while leaving a huge smile on your face. I haven't done autocross, but I'd hazzard a guess that you'll appreciate the SS 1LE much more if you take it on a road course, as autocross courses can be so constrictive (mostly low speed corners) that your mostly just throwing the car around- you can do that with a lot of cars and not. appreciate their differences. And the SS will have plenty of low end torque to pull you out of a corner.

3) A ZL1 by comparison will have slightly poorer handing (the extra weight) than the SS 1LE. On the road, unless you are obsessed with highway pulls, it will be difficult to use all the extra power. Savageese does great performance car reviews on youtube and has comments on the ZLE street driving to this effect. I'd expect these same observations to hold to on an autocross. Now, on a road course track, you "might" be able to exploit the extra horsepower of the ZL1, but it will depend on the particular track you drive. Long straight aways = yes; lots of turns with few straights = no.

I considered all this before I made my buying decision, and decided to go with the SS 1LE. In fact, my home track, VIR, has two long straights and I still manage to hit 140+ mph and don't miss the extra 200 horses. In fact, if you get into road course driving, you come to realize that the fun part, the part that takes skill and where you feel the reward, is how well you handle the brake zones and control inputs in the corners; it's not about mashing your foot to the floor on the straightaways (that part gets old pretty quick, no matter how fast you go, because you get used to the speed).

Good luck with your purchase.

Pretty sure 40 or 45lbs weight difference has no noticeable effect in handling.

[Chutzpah]

For most people, including me, 455 HP/TQ is a healthy dose of usable HP. I had a ZL1 and outside of its looks, was a bit unfulfilling to drive. The ZL1 is a bit extreme (again for me) and was too much power…limiting my ability to hammer the throttle on back roads and on ramps. You really need to know what you’re buying, especially if you’re coming from V6.